A notorious drug kingpin in south China has been sentenced to
death for producing, selling and transporting tons of illegal
drugs, while four others received suspended death sentences or life
imprisonment. The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong Province, passed the sentence on
Chen Bingxi, 50, of trafficking and manufacturing 12.36 tons of
methamphetamine, selling 108.85 kilograms of heroin and
transporting over 100 kg of heroin.
Chen's wife, Chen Baoyu, was sentenced to one year in jail for
producing drugs and illegally crossing a border, according to the
court.
Two members of Chen's drug ring were sentenced to death with a
two-year reprieve. Two others were sentenced to life in prison.
Chen, a native of Chishui Village of Puning City in Guangdong,
had been dealing drugs for many years and had close contact with
several drug lords in the country, the court said.
In 1998, Chen set up a warehouse to store more than 100 kg of
heroin that had been transported from the southwestern province of
Yunnan by Zhang Qisheng, a convicted drug trafficker who had been
previously sentenced to death.
In May and June 1998, Chen and Liu Zhaohua, another notorious
drug lord, rented a factory in Chishui Village and produced 300 kg
of methamphetamine, the court heard. Liu was tried separately by
the court but has yet to be sentenced.
Chen and Liu moved the drugs to a pesticide factory in northwest
China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, after the
Chishui factory polluted local water, poisoning the fish of local
villagers, which caught the attention of local police.
In November 1999, police seized 11.08 tons of methamphetamine
Chen had hidden in a storehouse in Guangzhou and another 1.28 tons
in Puning. All these drugs were jointly produced by Chen and Liu,
the court heard.
Chen and his wife fled to Thailand in November 1999 but were
arrested by police in 2003.
Both Chen and his wife said they would appeal.
(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2006)